Mistakenly Seized Hip-Hop Blog Returned to Owner After One Year

After seizing a number of sites that were considered to be run by copyright infringers over a year ago, the authorities returned one of the domains to its rightful owner without any explanation.

According to TorrentFreak, most of the domains confiscated at the time were hip-hop blogs, among which the popular Dajaz1.com, and while some of the other owners gave up on their assets, the owners of DaJaz1 hired a lawyer and began a legal battle with the authorities.

If at first Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) representatives, the ones responsible for the massive seizure, claimed that one of their agents downloaded pirated music from the site in question, it was later revealed that DaJaz1 wasn’t that illegal after all.

As it turns out, most of the site’s content was provided by record labels for advertising purposes and as TechCrunch reports, even famous rappers like Kanye West and P Diddy were supporting some of the forcefully taken domains.

Andrew P. Bridges, DaJaz1’s lawyer had many attempts of obtaining explanations, but the US government kept saying that forfeiture procedures would soon be started. While state representatives delayed the procedure on the basis that they obtained an extension, Bridges requested documents to prove the fact that a court granted it.

The proof and explanations failed to arrive until recently, when authorities simply announced that there were no “probable cause” to file a forfeiture complaint and the domain was returned to its owners.

Since it will take some time for them to get back in the game, DaJaz1.com is now proudly displaying banners that make anti-censorship, anti-SOPA and anti-Protect IP claims.

“Homeland Security blocked this site for a full year without daring to file a forfeiture proceeding and without daring to reveal its repeated delays in meeting the forfeiture deadline set by law,” reads a message on DaJaz1.